Author: Joely

Originally published at Joely Sue Burkhart. You can comment here or there.

While working to get unstuck, I’m also still brainstorming. I need a theme song to help me set the tone, and inevitably, the theme song nearly always touches my key story theme in some way. I may not know why or how, exactly, but when I find the song, I know it, and it always proves crucial to the story arc.

Previous posts: Raw Data, Ask the Questions, The Journey, Getting Stuck

As I was drifting off to sleep last night, I remembered some key lyrics from an H.I.M. song (Under the Rose, although at the time, I couldn’t remember the title):

I’ve been burning in water and drowing in flames

I love the mixed metaphors here. Water and Fire are opposites. How do you drown (water) in flame (fire)? How do you burn (fire) in water? I don’t know, exactly, but I’m pretty sure I’ll be finding out in Given in Fire.

I’m still asking the question: What’s the WORST thing I could do? To a people burning in fire day by day, literally carrying fire in their blood, in a land without a single drop of fresh water, the worst thing I could do to them would be…

Give them exactly what they want, sort of. They want water. Water = forgiveness. They lost water because of their devalki (sin). In other words, I need to find a way to drown them in flames and burn them in water.

I’m also making lists of key words and their opposites. Then going back and circling the words that really speak to me. Like:

Keldar	Munakuri
fire	water
burn	drown
honor	shame
devalki	tellan
fight	surrender

I took a fresh page in my composition book and wrote devalki (sin) in one corner and tellan (neverending hope for forgiveness) in the other, then below to form a triangle, my personal key theme word: sacrifice.

Now I’m writing the key song lyrics beneath, starting with burning in water, drowning in flames.

I’ve got a massive playlist looped on Napster right now while I fill in the blanks. Some other potential theme song candidates are:

Faraway by Apocalyptica

S.O.S. (Anything but Love) by Apocalyptica

Hope Vol. 2 by Apocalyptica

something by Whitesnake, because the symbol “white snake” is really speaking to me.

Now here’s the scary/wonderful thing. It seems like I always stumble across the perfect song unexpectedly, by an artist I’ve never before heard before. For Beautiful Death, it was Wings of a Butterfly by H.I.M. Until I saw it listed on someone else’s blog, I’d never even heard of H.I.M. before. Jessica blogged about going to an Apocalyptica concert, and that’s how I found Bittersweet, which I *love*.

So here’s a question for the blogosphere. Do you have a really powerful song you’ve been listening to lately that I should try out? (Lyrics are as important as tone and melody for me.) Who knows, you might have exactly the song I need!

Originally published at Joely Sue Burkhart. You can comment here or there.

I haven’t posted again on plotting because I’ve sort of been stuck. But then I realized I should still write up an entry for this, because it’s a necessary part of the process. It’s important not to rush or toss a project out just because you’re stuck. You’re just waiting for the right inspiration.

Previous posts: Raw Data, Ask the Questions, The Journey

It’s inevitable. Sometimes, no matter how much you love a story, you’re going to get stuck. It’s like trying to put a 5000-piece puzzle together only to realize half the pieces are missing, or worse, two puzzles have been tossed accidentally into the same box. Don’t despair; instead, try to use the “down” time to your advantage. Keep brainstorming. Make lists of words that inspire you. They may or may not have anything to do with the story, but something may shake loose.

Two nights ago, I was walking Ranulf through the Emotional Toolbox, and…It wasn’t working. I’m missing something. Specifically, I’m missing an antagonist. I really don’t know who or what the opposition is.

Oh, well, in the Blood and Shadows world, I know the Shadow is always there, always plotting to corrupt and ruin. But for this story in particular, I couldn’t figure out what the direct and visible opposition in the story was. There are so many goals and motivations overlapping, not just this story, not even just the Keldari Fire stories… Really, not even the Shanhasson trilogy. This world is big and complex, the character cast massive, and the timeline is…infinite. I mean, the battle between good and evil never ends.

Needless to say, trying to hold all of these story threads in my head was getting a little muddled. What did Agni want–and how does that affect all the story coming after, while still staying true to everything that has come before? What, specifically, does Shadow want? I don’t want this to dissolve into the same-old “shadow” story. Good defeats evil, the end. *yawn*

So I put the toolbox questions aside and pulled out a new composition book I bought for 50 cents when I bought the kids’ school supplies. (Hint: change up your routine; try writing by hand or typing instead of how you normally write) I started asking questions on paper, writing those questions down even if I didn’t have the answers.

And honestly, I still didn’t have anything. I knew I was pinpointing the hole better, but I still didn’t have a clue.

Today the monsters went back to school (****YAY***) and both That Man and I took the day off. We drove down to Branson and went to the Imax for the first time (aside: I was actually disappointed with the Imax theater–it was basically like any other theatre. I was expecting more. But no other theatre would have shown the movie early enough in the day for us to see it and get back to pick up the monsters early–they get out an hour early on Fridays). What movie did we see?

The Dark Knight.

And I ask you, how could that movie fail to inspire?

I came out of the theatre wishing I could sit down and watch it again, right now, with a notebook in hand.

One line in particular is still blazing in the corner of my mind. I don’t know exactly what the quote was, but something like “He does it just to watch the world burn.”

Burn the world. Agni, the God of Fire, not a fatherly, kindly god but a blood-thirsty vengeful dragon bent on destroying His own people in purifying fire until their terrible sin has been repaid. While He’s not malevolent, exactly, he’s also not a “good” god either, and the Keldari are cut from the same cloth. They’re not all villains — in their world — but they’re not heroes either. They do bad things, hard things, that most (Shannari more than understands that lines are often crossed in the battle against Shadow) munakuri in their fine houses and fertile Green lands will not understand. Things that must be done, no matter how dark.

Sometimes, the world has to burn.

I discarded “Quench My Fire” as too cheesy and having nothing to do with the story theme. Instead, I’m thinking “Given in Fire.” Keldari fans will know what Given means and why that might be important.

Tonight, more notes in the composition book. Maybe I’ll have more answers than questions this time.

Originally published at Joely Sue Burkhart. You can comment here or there.

Once again, May is discussing plotting, the journey, etc. on her blog, and it’s perfect timing for my next stage of plotting.

A Story is all about the Journey, the hero’s journey. As a reader, I want to take that journey with the character, climb that peak, wallow in the Inner Cave, and return triumphant with the Elixer. Any hero’s journey involves death of some sort–whether physical, death of a dream, loss of innocence…and then the resurrection. Always, the resurrection, hope springs eternal, and the final victory is won. That doesn’t mean I want a “happy ending” — far from it. I love endings that haunt me. I simply want a satisfying ending. I want all the suffering and tribulations on that journey to mean something.

The single-most useful tool I’ve found for plotting/character development intertwined with the hero’s journey is: The Emotional Toolbox. I *always* come to this site and walk through the six questions, usually several times for both the hero and the heroine. Once I’ve got a clear character map for both the hero and heroine, I can usually plot out the rest of the story fairly easily.

Don’t be afraid to answer the questions, change your mind, and start again. Sometimes I think I’m doing fine, I get to Question Six, and realize I’ve missed the whole point. Or I map the hero, and then move to the heroine, and realize I need to do him all over again. *that sounds dirty but you know what I mean* This phase is highly iterative too. I just keep answering the questions, thinking about the fear, the mask, the fear…The Dark Side…until it all sings.

Previous posts: Raw Data, Ask the Questions

~ * ~

I decided that Koray, the heroine of the new novella, is suffering a crisis of faith. She’s a member of a very secret, holy sect dedicated to Agni, He Who Burns. He chose her instead of killing her. She must have some great purpose then, right? But she sees the violence and killing happening all through the desert and she’s…weary. Keldar is a hard land, a hard life, and only a remnant will be saved after Agni’s retribution. She’s weary of the killing, the suffering, the endless thirst, the eternal punishment for their devalki. Is there no forgiveness? Is there no Water? If they’re all going to die in flames anyway…why even bother?

The worst thing I could do to her is make her choose, then. Does she believe in Agni or not? Does she believe she’s qara (Daughter of the Rock) or not? What if it all means nothing? What if her sacrifice means nothing?

So I begin the character map outlined on The Emotional Toolbox.

1. Koray’s Mask is pride in her blood. She’s a White, prized across Keldar for their holy blood. In this question, I ended up changing her backstory to reflect this pride better. (I’m sure that will all come out in her character letter, which I’ll be doing later in this process.) She was sacrificed to He Who Burns and was found so worthy that He spared her. That’s her pride she wears at Sakhr, the Rock of Agni. There’s just one little problem she doesn’t want you to know about…
2. Koray’s Fear is that without her White blood, she’s nothing. Her sacrifice means nothing. Nothing she can do will make a difference in the fate of her people. They’re all doomed anyway.
3. Koray’s Strongest Trait is her pride. She’s White by blood, holy and prized across the desert. She’s qara by her sacrifice, chosen Daughter of Agni, who is a fierce and vengeful God. He has no mercy, no forgiveness, so why should she? I like how her pride and her fear are tied together. It’s both a strength–and a weakness. She’s proud of her blood–she fears she’s nothing without it.
4. Koray’s Admired Trait is ferocity for love. Now this sort of came out of left field, but I think it ties the novellas together very nicely. As qara, sacrificed to Agni, she would hold up Chanda from Survive My Fire, as the ultimate example of what qara means and what she can accomplish with her sacrifice. Chanda loved so ferociously that she cursed herself. She declared her heart Riven, torn assunder, and cursed the Gods. When They transformed her into a dragon, she slaughtered the man she loved, his tribe, and her own tribe. In the end, the only thing that broke her curse and saved her, again, was the ferocity of her love. Naturally, Koray wants to love so fiercely. A love to burn…or save…the world.
5. Koray’s Trouble Traits, her inner demon, is doubt. Deep down, she believes she’s nothing without her White blood. Nothing has changed. Death and suffering still abound, Agni still punishes their people, and He’s going to use her in some way to increase that suffering and death. Maybe He will destroy them all. Maybe no one will be saved.
6. Koray’s Dark Side goes back to Chanda, who was Riven for her pride. Blind, hateful Chanda cursed the Gods and slaughtered two tribes, all for love of a man who didn’t love her. Will Koray follow in Chanda’s footsteps? Would she ever curse the Gods and declare herself Riven? If she did…how could she ever be saved from the Dark Side? And here’s where the little secret came up that Koray doesn’t really want you to know. The opposite of Riven is Given, and that plays a very important role at Sakhr.

Aha. So I’m getting all sorts of ideas for plot points now. I will jot some of them down, but I’m not going to set anything in concrete yet. I still need to do the character map for Ranulf, and then examine the two maps together. Always asking the question:

How can I make this WORSE?

Originally published at Joely Sue Burkhart. You can comment here or there.

From Beautiful Death:

“I guess I

Originally published at Joely Sue Burkhart. You can comment here or there.

I am LOVING the USA mens gymnastics team! Oh oh oh! Did you see Justin Spring and Jonathan Horton NAIL those high bar routines? Stunning.

ETA: Ack! The dastardly pommel horse killed us! The last guy (Sasha Artemev) did great; the rest… Not a good sign when the commentators say, “Gee, have we ever seen such a low score at this level before?” *sads*

ETA: Whoa, we took the bronze! I’m happy for them–after losing the Hamm brothers, I really didn’t think the team would place at all. Way to go, guys!

Originally published at Joely Sue Burkhart. You can comment here or there.

May and I have had an insane Writing by Mathematics discussion. So many ideas are sparking in my brain that it’s about to explode.

Meanwhile, I have two stories bubbling in pots on the backburner, specifically a third Keldari novella (target 20K) and the re-vision of NSR. I’d really like to get the plot for the Keldari novella sketched out by the end of this month, and since May and I have talked so much about plotting…I thought I’d try to capture some of my thought processes.

Everybody is different, each writer’s process is unique, and at least for me, the process changes with each and every book. But for what it’s worth, here’s a snapshot into my brain. Beware, it’s a scary place.

~ * ~

First, I start gathering little bits of data that may or may not be important for this story. This story is special in several ways. I have the worldbuilding mostly done–although this novella will look at Keldar through entirely different lenses. I have a bunch of timeline both before and after this story to fit within. And, my lovely editor, Deena, challenged me to write this one starring a Keldari heroine and a Green Land hero. I’m starting out with:

• Keldari woman, don’t know her name or tribe
• Green Land man: I want to use Ranulf, the Crown Prince who was kidnapped by the Sha’Kae al’Dan and tortured in Touch the Sky. I had to shuffle my Green Land monarchy around, which affects Dainari’s heritage (Shannari’s mother), but I think it’ll work.
• I need a title involving “Fire.”
• I know the setting will involve Keldar at first, and end up in the Green Lands. Should be fun to show the munakur world through a Keldari’s eyes.
• Since this is Keldar, I know dragons, fire, thirst, etc. are involved. Keldar is a hard land, a hard life.

Now I’ve been thinking about this story off and on for months. Listening, absorbing, thinking. At church weeks ago, we sang: “He hideth my soul, in the cleft of the rock, that shelters a dry thirsty land.”

Alarm bells went off. Cleft of the rock, and a dry thirsty land (Keldar). Knowing the great commission at the end of The Fire Within, I know what Agni, He Who Burns, has been up to. He ordered the Keldari to bring him ALL whites, all daughters descended from Somma, She Who Hung the Moon. Now this is one of those things that gives me chills. I knew the commission…but I didn’t know WHY Agni would give that order. I knew it as truth, though, no matter how unpleasant.

I mean, what do you think a big hungry dragon is doing with all those women? Yeah, he’s eating them. Most of them…

Not all of them.

All of this is backstory, but crucial. It’s setting up the beginning scenes of the story, helping me determine who my heroine is. What if (the famous writer’s question) she was one of these women who were sacrificed to Agni, but He didn’t eat her? Why not? What’s she doing now? How’s that important? This all fluttering in the back of my brain.

So now add to my list of raw data:

• a Rock, Agni’s lair
• a small group of women who were sacrificed to the dragon and are assumed dead. e.g. if a “normal” Keldari stumbled across one of these women, he may be frightened. Maybe he’d think she was a ghost? Hmmm.

If you’ve read Touch the Sky, you know the Sha’Kae al’Dan were not very kind to Ranulf. They actually cut a few fingers off and were going to do much worse before Iman stopped them. How did he end up in Keldar? Why is he still alive? How is that important? That gives me:

• hero, Ranulf, is near death after torture and exposure
• the only thing keeping him alive is a goal to return to Shanhasson.

Now I have the opening scene for the story: heroine finds the hero near death, dying of thirst and exposure in the desert of Keldar. Why is it so important for him to go home? Make it personal. Look at the politics going on at the time. He has a younger brother who’s insane and unable to rule, and a young “step-brother” who’s not a step brother at all, who could be a huge political nightmare for him if Darin takes the throne. Maybe there’s some personal hatred going on between them, too? Ah, lots of ideas perking up there.

Now I go back to titles, themes, and coming up with key names. I know my title involves Fire. My first thought is “Quench My Fire” which may be too cliched, but I may use it anyway. I need the heroine’s name. It involves fire, but isn’t that exactly. I made a mental list of all words related to fire and started looking through Behind the Name for Arabic or somewhat related names that would make sense with the mythology, and stumbled across:

• Koray, “Ember Moon.” Oooh, that names gives me chills, it’s so perfect!!!

I continued looking on Behind the Name for the tribe. Searching for “rock” I found:

• Sakhr, Arabic for rock. This becomes the name for the secret sect at Agni’s holy rock.

With all the turmoil about The Jewel of Medina, daughters of the Prophet are on my mind. I did a Google search for “daughter of” in Arabic and came across Ruqaya, ” gentle”, a daughter of the Prophet. I don’t want to go exactly on this name, and although I liked the “y” it didn’t seem to go with the ending “y” in Koray, so I ended up with:

• qara, “Daughter”, the heroine’s title. It’s more than just “daughter of”, implying almost a holiness to her sect. Remember, these women are assumed dead (and many of them originally sent to Agni are), so maybe the “q” implies deceased? Reborn? More to think about for later.

So that gives me the heroine’s formal Keldari name as Koray qara‘Sakhr, Ember Moon, Daughter of the Rock.

I love the translation. Not so sure about the Keldari spelling. For now, I can’t decide, so I’ll leave it for another day.

Other than the obvious “quenching”, what is the heroine’s “fire” and how is the story going to “quench” it? More plotting fun next time to answer that very question!

Originally published at Joely Sue Burkhart. You can comment here or there.

I know I’m a few years behind here, but I finally watched my first episode of Dr. Who and I loved it. I’m going to wrestle TiVo into a season pass for both it and Torchwood, as long as I can keep That Man from deleting them.

We’ve been watching the Olympics, and I was soooo disappointed with the women’s gymnastics! I had to leave while they were getting ready for the vault to run an errand for That Man, but it sounds like I didn’t miss much. I cheered so loud when Phelps and Lezak won the mens 4×100 relay that the monsters all got out of bed to harrass me. We’re building back to the “school bedtime” schedule, which they HATE. My yelling was just another reason for them to get up and torture me. What a race. I was so glad to see us “smash” the French favorites after their comments!

I’ve officially made four school shopping trips and I still can’t find: a wooden ruler and a dry-erase eraser. I mean, it’s a joke. Every year, there’s *something* I simply can’t find. Something innocuous. You can’t tell me it’s that difficult to stock wooden rulers. It’s not like a brand-new item that has never been on a school supply list before!

The supply list says “wooden only.” Of course, Wal-Mart had plastic ones, rubber ones, metal ones…but not a wooden one to be found. To get an eraser, I had to buy a pack of 4 fine markers (which none of the teachers wanted, so I was going to keep them for myself) and cleaner, for $7.07. All I needed was the eraser! I got up to the checkout…and the @&#*$! thing wouldn’t scan. I told her to keep it; I’d find the eraser somewhere else.

Four trips. Three monsters in school. A fortune in supplies. Monsters back in school in four days? Priceless.

I don’t know when the domain transfer will happen, but I’ll keep you posted. In the meantime, I have something VERY COOL to giveaway on the blog, so stay tuned!

Originally published at Joely Sue Burkhart. You can comment here or there.

Another review from the Long and Short of It:

In this rare blend of science-fiction and romance, Joely Sue Burkhart weaves a tale of interstellar conspiracies and power struggles, of intermingling of alien species and a future world that holds a fragile promise of hope.

From the suggestive use of mythological names, the careful threading of themes and images, to the careful development of the relationship between the hero and heroine, so necessary to the main plot, Beautiful Death is a gem of a science fiction novel, and a wonderful romance, that will please readers of both genres. I couldn

Originally published at Joely Sue Burkhart. You can comment here or there.

I don’t know why, but I tend to get very lazy in these dog days of summer. Maybe it’s the heat. Maybe it’s the monsters being out of school. Whatever, I’m terribly thankful that fall is just around the corner. I’ve been writing more consistently instead of just pecking away at things here and there, and I started asking myself some questions. Like:

1. Are you talking about writing…instead of writing?
2. Are you blogging…instead of writing?
3. Are you reading craft books…instead of writing?
4. Do you open a file, but *insert favorite time waster* instead of writing?
5. Do you plot and replot and replot again…instead of finishing the damned book?
6. Are you revising yet again…instead of submitting?
7. Are you submitting yet another query…instead of starting the next book?
8. Are you googling yourself, checking your sales rank, lurking on review blogs…instead of reading for market analysis?
9. Are you obsessed with the next big break…instead of writing the story that makes your heart sing?
10. Are you writing yourself into the ground…instead of refilling the Well?

I don’t know about you, but I didn’t do so well on this checklist. Would you add anything else to this checkup? Meanwhile, I’m going to make a list of everything I need to tie up this month for a big push this fall.

Originally published at Joely Sue Burkhart. You can comment here or there.

[Remember that I